Go Flyers!

On Tuesday, I put Annika and Amelia to bed and waited until they fell asleep to turn on the Flyer's game. I was lying in bed enjoying the game, thinking all was well and everyone was asleep, when I heard loud cheering coming from the crib next to me I looked over to see Amelia standing at the corner of the foot of her crib watching the Flyers play Montreal. She actually stood and watched for about half an hour, yelling daaaaa, daaaaa. Looks like we've got a new Flyers fan in the making!

We Are Home!

Elena, Amelia and I spent a wonderful week relaxing at the Hyatt in Almaty. WE enjoyed the hotel, took some little adventures outsoide the city, took care of our Almaty business, but mostly relaxed. After a great week in Almaty, we arrived home on April 3rd at 5 pm. Amelia was fantastic on the plane rides and the 7 hour layover. She slept on each flight and only cried for about 15 minutes on the second flight! She was a trooper! Brian, Annika and Gina met us at the airport. Annika was overjoyed to see her new sister. I was overjoyed to see Annika! WE rode and everyone spent the evening enjoying the new baby!

Returning to Kazakhstan!

My plans are now made to return to Kazkahstan and bring Amelia to her new home. I will leave the US on March 27, arriving in Almaty on the 29th. Amelia will not arrive in Almaty until March 31st but the airlines ahve a rule a Saturday stay overr, so I had to leave on March 27th in order to be home by Easter. WE will do our appointments in Almaty on the 1st and 2nd of April and then leave to return to the US on April 3rd. If all goes smoothly, we will be home Saturday night before Easter.

Officially a Family

Yesterday, the 15 day waiting period ended and today my coordinator picked up the court decree making Tansholpan an official member of our family. Her new name is Amelia Edolie Tansholpan Demshock. Now we are waiting for her passport and other paperwork, then I can return to Kazakhstan to bring her home! WE are aiming to travel the last weeek of March and maybe arrive home for Easter.

Court

Today was my Court day at 10:00 am. I woke up at 6am! I was afraid I would oversleep ad I overcompensated. Court went went well and now Amelia Edolie Tansholpan Demshock is my daughter! Of course there is the 15 day waiting period and that will be over March 12, 2009.

3 weeks In Astana

It has been 3 weeks in Astana and things seem to be going well. I visit Tansholpan every day from from 10 am to 12 noon. She is doing well and getting brighter and more interactive every day. She is a very happy baby and giggles and laughs and loves to be held.

My court date is scheduled for next week on February 24th! All seems to be falling in to place, so I hope I will be coming home soon.

This past weekend I spent time in Karaganda, the from which I adopted Annika. I stayed with my friend Elena, who was my translator on my last trip. It was a great weekend. We talked all weekend. She arranged for a massage for me and then had a dinner party for me and invited my friend Yuriy and his family! It was so good to see everyone again and like time had not passed. We were friends on my last adoption trip and we picked up where we left off last time.

Tansholpan

First few days of travel

I left for Astana on January 25, 2010, I flew from Philadelphia to Frankfort, then had long 5 hour layover in in Germay followed by a 6 hour flight to Astana. The plane rides were comfortable and pleasant. Lufthansa takes good care of their passengers. I arrived in Astana after midnight on January 27th and was met by Dina, my coordinator and her husband Arman. It was cold, but not horrible as we wlaked to their car. I was happy to see two large gallon bottles of water sitting on the seat! Dina had thought of my needs and taken care of everything! My apartment is nice and well kept, over looking the river. I have a great view and a lovely sunset each evening.

'Dina told me to be ready at 11 am on Thursday to go to the baby house. At 11 am she called and said we would go at 3.....more waiting! She actually picked me up at 1 and w ewent grocery shopping. WE bought bread and chocolate butter, which is delicious! It is literally as good as a croissat at the hotel hershey! It was finally time to go the baby house,. WE went tothe Department of Educatyio to pick up a representative who was to accompany us....we waited in the parking lot for 15 minutes for her! The finally drove off to the baby house. When we arrived, the woman from the DOE went into the Drirector's and was in there for 30 minutes before we were called in! Dina and I sat in the lobbby and waited some more! Fially it was time to go in. I was introduced, asked some questions, asked about Annika, showed everyone her pictures, they said she was a beautiful girl, and finally they began looking at their lists of babies. after a few minutes, they had seemed to have decided on 3. The first baby was beautiful....looked to be about 9 months but was actually 18 nmonths, so she had some special needs that i knew we could not handle. The second baby was a girl and also had needs we were not equipped to handle. The third baby was a healthy boy, but i looked at hime and knew he was not my son. The baby house staff talked some mopre...it seemed serious...it went on for a while. Would I be going home without a baby i wondered? hen they mentioned Tansholpan...and when she appeared in the room, I knew she was the one! She is 9 months and her birthday is April 10, 2009. Just after convention! Her name, Tansholpan means morning star. She is a big baby....not sure of her weight, but she is big! Definitely not wearing 9-12 month clothing! She wass quiet at yesterday's visit, but today she opened up and was silly and talked baby talk and laughed. She is a thumb sucker, just like her biug sister! The baby house workers tell me she is a good eater and a good sleeper!

So that is it for now...th ebaby house visits are great but the rest of the day is long and lonely!

Time to go!

The letter of invitation has been processed, the "number" is in the "system" and my Visa has been processed and in the Fedex box waiting to be delivered to me tomorrow morning! I am finally going! I leave tomorrow night and arrive in Kazakhstan Wednesday, then am hopefully off to meet my little on on Thursday! I am excited, apprehensive, and and happy. This is going to be quite a week!

Finally!

Finally, after 7 trips to the Ministry of Education by my coordinator, my Letter of Invitation has finally been signed! I am tentatively scheduled to leave this weekend, but that is dependant on getting my Visa in time! I am excited, nervous, happy...all at the same time!

WAITING IS HARD!

So Little One, it is Thursday and our Letter of Invitation has not yet been signed! Poor Dina is going every day to try and get a signature, but it is not working! Libby calls me every morning and tells me the bad news and I know i need to wait another 24 hours to know our plans. I am trying to be patient, but it is hard. It is hard for Annika , to, who runs out of school every day and asks did Libby call? WE have just gone into this mode of existence that involves waiting for 10 AM every day hoping for good news. I had hoped to see you next week, but it looks like we'll be waiting a little longer.

Love,

Mommy

New Things

Hi there, Little One, we are getting closer to meeting! Libby says we will get my Letter of Invitation next week. I think I am supposed to wait for her to call me, but I cannot see how I can wait much past Monday morning to wait for her call! I am just too excited. I'll have to call her Monday morning after our morning meeting! I am going to fill out my Visa application this weekend so we can be ready to send it off as soon as we get the LOI.

Annika and I went shopping to night and bought you some very cute clothes....little brown pants and a pink ruffle sweater! I have no idea how old you are or how big your, but I am bringing a few things in different sizes. I got you socks and onesies, a teething toy, a crab rattle, and a few other things. Annika was a big help choosing everything. She can't wait to see your picture!

2009

Well, Little One, as 2009 ends, I know we are getting close to being together! 2009 was a good year, but it was a long year waiting for you. I really thought you would be home by now. We are ready for you! I am ready to be your mommy! I am almost ready to come to Kazakhstan. I have finished your second dossier, I have been to the travel clinic and gotten all my shots and vaccines, I have bought everything I need to travel (I think) and I have gotten all my work for convention done early so I can come and meet you. Now I just need to be invited to travel. I call Libby every week and ask her "is it time yet and she tells me not yet...but soon!

Your sister is ready too! Everywhere we go she tells everyone she is going to be a big sister. She can't wait to hold you, to help you with your bottle and to play with you. She is disappointed she is not coming to Kazakhstan with me to meet you. but she has begun to understand that this may be for the best. She just can't wait until your home. She tells me that as soon as i leave for Kazakhstan she will become a big sister!

So you can see, we are very excited to have you home, are waiting very IMPATIENTLY, and have big plans for when you arrive home! As I write this, you have already celebrated New Years in Kazakhstan! I think you may be too young to know it, but I still want to wish you a happy day!

We are so looking forward to seeing what 2010 has in store for us! I hope to see you soon little one!

Love,

Mommy

Changing the Blog to Private

I haven't had any firm news on travel yet, but on the advice of my coordinator, the blog will be private until after the baby comes home, just to be on the safe side. I would be glad to invite anyone who has been following to join us privately, so please let me know if you'd like to continue on the journey with us!

A Bit of Frustration

I am feeling discouraged. Since I began my dossier last October and finished it in February, some of my documents are a year old now. Because I will most likely travel in January/February, this means that I have to redo most of my dossier. Of course this is almost routine with adoptions from Kazakhstan, but the list is long and so is the wait! I try to be positive and keep the attitude that every step of the way takes me to the child who is meant to be mine, but when I saw the number of documents on the list yesterday, I just wanted to give up! That only lasted for a moment, but I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all.

On a positive note, I am pretty much ready to travel. I have my packing list ready to go, I have my warm winter coat, and yesterday, my awesome boots were delivered. Except for my documents and plane tickets, I could be out the door in a few hours!

So frustrated and disheartened as I am, I went back to the computer and re-started my documents, and soon I'll be off to the notary! When I called my doctor about re-doing my physical form, it turns out he's so busy with flu patients, he doesn't even need to see me! I just need to send the form over with the traveling notary and he will complete it for me. I hope it all goes this smoothly!

Line Leader

The family who was in front of us has traveled and is in Kazakhstan bonding with their baby. Our family will be the next family to receive a LOI from our region. WE don't know how long it will take, but we've been told to expect 2 more months of waiting!

Maybe before the end of the year?

I talked to my adoption coordiantor this week and it seems as though we may be traveling before the end of the year! What exciting news! Of course I am in no way prepared. Annika has not had her shots and I cannot find her US passport. I had all summer to do these things and this adoption has been porogressing so slowly, I had begun to believe it would never happen! It still seems unreal in so many ways.

I know I can make an appointment and get Annika's travel vaccines done without difficulty, but packing is a bigger issue. I like to ravel light. It is my goal to take one very large duffel bag and pack for Annika and my self in it. She is 6, but I don't think if she is tired, she will be able to handle a piece of luggage in the airport. Each of us would also have a back pack. Thats all I took last time, so I think it may be possible this time. I have my packing list form last time and it seems comprehensive and still useful. Last time I took a lot for the baby, but I may have to cut back and buy that in country. Lots of thoughts are running through my head!

Lots to do, but, wow, we may meet our baby soon!

A Little Bit of Exciting News

Today I found out that our dossier has passed through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education and has been assigned to a region! This is exciting news and I shared it with Annika when I picked her up after camp. I told her I had news that was a little bit exciting and explained what I had been told. She jumped up and down and told me that was very exciting, not a little bit exciting!

On a similar note a few days ago, she asked if we would have balloons when the baby came home. I asked if she wanted balloons and she replied, "every house I know that has a new baby has balloons." Hopefully, our balloons will be coming soon!

Dossier Approved!

Not only has it been approved, its already in Astana! I opened my email today, expecting to find nothing too exciting after a long holiday weekend, and the first item in the inbox was from my coordinator was an email with the subject "Dossier Approved by Consulate!" Not only was it approved last Friday, it has made its way all the way to Kazkastan over the weekend! it was at the Consulate in New York for 30 days. Hooray!

Dossier

Well, little one, your dossier has been at the Consulate for over 3 weeks now. It should have moved to Kazakhstan by now, but hasn't. The agency says it will probably move within a week, but I am a little worried. Is there a problem with the dossier or is it just taking longer than usual? Are you just a little one who is not going to be ready for a quite a long time? If not, we can wait. We are anxious, but we can wait. Annika and I walked to the park yesterday. The little girls from up the street came along with us. Isabela is just 3. It was nice having a little on around. Annika said she was practicing to be a big sister. You are never far from our thoughts, little one.